Popular student nightclub The Bridge has been forced to change its door entry policies and has been forbidden from using glass bottles and glasses following a review of the club’s licence by Oxford City Council’s Licensing sub-committee.

 

The club will now be unable to admit customers in the hour before closing time. It will also have to serve drinks in polycarbonate containers as opposed to glass. 

Oxford University welcomed Committee members from Polish Societies across the country this weekend for the ‘Leading Our Future’ event, a Congress organised by students at the universities of Oxford and St Andrews.

 

Professor Zbigniew Pelczynski, former tutor at Pembroke, hosted some 60 students on the three-day event, which featured discussion panels, group workshops and leadership training.

 

Guest speakers included Oxford graduate and current Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, and Professor Leszek Kolakowski, Senior Research Fellow at All Souls.

Preliminary research conducted at Oxford University indicates that the UK music industry produces up to one million tonnes of CO2 annually.

 

The University’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI) believes the main contributors to be live concerts, the mass production and sale of music products and UK artists going on tour throughout the globe.

 

The ECI and Julie’s Bicycle, the organisation that commissioned the research, urge the UK music industry to think and act more greenly which they believe will inspire other companies as well.

 

Pembroke’s JCR President has accused the college of risking students’ lives by failing to maintain clean accommodation after a disease outbreak.

He also alleged that the college deceived students by covering up an outbreak of the potentially fatal Legionnaire’s disease.

JCR President Chris Bennetts said the JCR consistently raised concerns about the poor state of the showers and ventilation system in the Macmillan building where the outbreak occurred, but the College had taken no action.

Bennetts said, “The JCR has consistently raised general concerns about the poor state of the showers and ventilation in the building; poor ventilation particularly contributes to the spread of the bacteria.”

He also criticised the decision by college authorities not to inform students of the discovery of Legionnaire’s until Monday morning, despite knowing of the extent of the problem three days earlier.

Bacteria associated with Legionnaire’s disease was found in the water tanks supplying the showers of the Macmillan building last Friday, following routine checks. The college closed off the showers over the weekend before shutting down the whole water supply on Monday while the problem was fixed.

JCR President Chris Bennetts said the college had told students that there was a problem with the water supply on Friday and closed the showers, but only revealed the truth on Monday. “They had been informed on Friday that an unspecified problem had been identified with their water supply; showers were out of use for the weekend with students using neighbouring blocks instead. Tap water was said to be unaffected.”

However, college authorities have defended their actions, saying the decision to withhold the true nature of the problem from students was done so as to prevent panic, and because the bacteria posed a minimal health threat.

They also denied that the presence of Legionnaire’s had any connection with the state of the building.
Bennetts criticised this decision by the college to withhold the true reason for the shower closures and their failure to provide students with information about the disease. “It concerns me that the college did not inform the students what the nature of the problem was until a few days had elapsed – in sealing off the showers they had isolated the problem but students should have been informed about the precise problem in order that they could be vigilant for any symptoms.”

However, Darren Bowyer, the Home Bursar, rejected the accusation of any link between the standard of the Macmillan block and the discovery of Legionnaire’s, saying facilities such as water tanks were vulnerable to the disease. “The standard of the décor and cleanliness of the bathroom units are completely unrelated to the discovery of Legionnaires. Showers where you have a static tank are always a likely area of threat.”

Bowyer also defended the decision to withhold the discovery from students, saying the risk of infection was minimal and that releasing the information would have created unnecessary alarm.

“The risk to a healthy person with a healthy immune system is very small, therefore we thought the risk of causing unneeded panic was greater than any threat to student safety. We thought the best option was to deal the disease first.”

Louise Randall, OUSU Vice President for Welfare and Equal Opportunities, said it was the obligation of colleges to ensure student accommodation was safe. “It is the responsibility of every college to ensure the highest hygiene standards in student accommodation, and we hope that this incident will lead to greater measures being taken to protect student health.”

Randall said that students at Pembroke should be given high standards of accommodation to reflect the fact that they have some of the highest rents of any colleges in the University. “The rent of students at Pembroke is among the highest in Oxford, and the least that any student at any college should be able to expect are clean, functioning facilities which do not put them at risk.”

Legionnaire’s disease is caused by a bacteria that thrives in aquatic and warm environments, infection occurs after inhaling water droplets that originated from a water source contaminated with Legionella.
If treated quickly then mortality rate is less than five per cent, but delay in giving the appropriate antibiotics leads to a higher death rate.

 

Five students have been left without permanent accommodation following eviction from their house in Cowley.

The students, all third years at New College, returned home last Friday to find that their door had been broken down and that their locks had been changed.

A note had been left on the door telling the students to contact Allen Harris Estate Agents.

Claire Chambers, one of the students, spoke of her distress at finding she could not get into her house.

She said, “We came back from the library at about 11.30pm and found our door broken down: there was wood everywhere.”

She described the confusion saying, “We didn’t know what was going on, we had to stay with friends for the night as there was nowhere else for us to go.”

The students called the police, but as it was a civil matter there was nothing they could do. They had to wait until the morning, when they were able to contact the estate agents.

However Chambers dismissed the response from Allen and Harris as unhelpful. She said, “When we spoke to an estate agent, he just laughed and told us that we had to move out by five.

“We knew that we had rights, but as we didn’t know the law, we didn’t know what we could actually do. We had to call our parents to come down to Oxford and help us.”

The students rented their house from a landlord, but their only means of contact was through a letting agency, which was apparently unaware that there were tenants occupying the accommodation.

The students were told that if they did not move all their possessions out of the house then they would not be able to access their belongings.

The students all have examinations this term, and one of them, Tegan Gill, spoke of the disruption the eviction had caused.

Gill said, “It has been such a stressful week and has disrupted our revision. It also means that we have nowhere to stay over the summer.

“It is our last year here and we really wanted to enjoy it. Our parents have all had to take time off work and this has causes a lot of trouble for a lot of people.”

Whilst the students are able to appeal against their unfair eviction, any court case would likely take place in the middle of their finals.

Jonathon Bruce, PR manager for Allen Harris described the situation as the “fault of the landlord” for failing to inform the students that he was unable to pay his mortgage.

He said that the landlord had not informed anyone that there were tenants occupying the property and that Allen Harris had been acting purely on the orders of Halifax, with whom the landlord had had his mortgage.

He described the situation as “unfortunate” but added that Allen and Harris had become involved “only at the end of the process”.

He continued, “The issue now is to find the students somewhere else to stay, Allen and Harris have no lettings in the area but are doing whatever possible to help.”

The students agreed that the situation was not the fault of Allen and Harris.

 

She identified the landlord as the main culprit, stating that he should have informed the letting agency of his financial difficulties.

Louise Randall, OUSU VP for welfare, expressed her concern about the situation.

She said, “Most worrying is what little regard the landlord has given to the well being of his tenants in this situation.

“The landlord will have had a significant amount of notice about the possible consequences of not keeping up on mortgage repayments, and should have felt a duty of care to have informed the tenants in due time.”

Chambers said, “College [New] have been really helpful. Luckily they had rooms available so we are staying there.”

Randall added, “I am pleased that New College have acted so swiftly in order to find accommodation for the students and I hope the welfare systems in place in the College will help ease the stress on the students by this.

A spokesperson for Halifax stated, “It is important to note that repossession is a very last resort."

“The unfortunate issue is that the people living in the property are not our customers. They are the clients of our customer. As such, their contract is with the landlord, not ourselves. The repossession should not have come as any surprise to either the tenant or the occupier. It is an unfortunate circumstance.”

Hertford’s JCR President has been told to pile on the pounds after the JCR passed a “banterous” motion on Sunday calling for him to “return to his former glory.”

JCR Treasurer Tim Boothman proposed the motion concerning the President Jon Colclough’s weight at the first meeting of term, noting Colclough’s “rapid” and “irresponsible” loss of significant body mass over the holidays. The motion warns of the President being “dangerously close to being presentable and/or ‘attractive’, an unprecedented occurrence.”

The JCR meeting minutes from 27 April reveal the motion stipulating Colclough’s principal electoral appeal as being “his humourous appearance (like Oliver Hardy),” and that his weight loss had hurt his charisma, which is described as being “directly proportional to his body mass.”

It goes on to say, “a JCR President, as the primary representative of College, must be required to be both charismatic and entertaining.” 

The proposed resolution called for the President to gain back any weight that Colclough had lost, and also “for all future presidents to be banned from weight loss post-election.” Emily Watson, member of Teddy Hall and also girlfriend of the newly slimmed Hertford JCR President seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.

Tim Boothman said in an email that this motion was “a joke, strictly between mates,” and one following Hertford’s “long tradition of passing motions of no consequence for no reason other than boredom and immaturity.” He also lauded Cherwell’s “unparalleled” grasp of rudimentary humour in highlighting the motion.

JCR Sports Rep Ben Brash said offering more attention to such “funny” joke motions is “frankly swelling [Tim Boothman’s] already large [forehead].”

Colclough said of his thinner physique, “It’s always nice having people appreciate my new six-pack.
“I imagine I’ll be hitting the social highs of ‘Fit College’ before too long.”

In response to Boothman’s motion, Colclough said, “Tim Boothman’s…forehead is bigger than both my previous and my current belly diameter.” He did not comment on whether he will follow through with the motion and how he will do so.

Colclough advises future dieters to “try to keep within your daily allowance of burgers and kebabs.
“If you’re really lucky, you can look like me within a few weeks.”

His girlfriend could not be reached for comment.

 

A St Catz student is recovering from meningitis, having been hospitalised over the weekend.
Sarah Hartley, a fresher reading English, was rushed to John Radcliffe hospital on Sunday morning after complaining of feeling unwell and developing a rash.

Fellow student Janek Seevaratnam, who took Hartley to hospital, has been praised for his handling of the situation and his response as her condition worsened.

Seevaratnam, who is JCR welfare Rep and a friend of Hartley’s, said he had looked after her as her condition deteriorated on Saturday. “I visited her on Saturday as she had been in bed all day with flu-like symptoms.  I gave her ibuprofen to see her through the evening but when I came back at eleven she was really feverish.”

Seevaratnam took Hartley to hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning following advice from the NHS helpline after noticing the rash. “The NHS helpline advised she see a doctor in the next two hours, so we went to A&E. It took three hours to see a doctor by which time she had a high fever and meningitis symptoms.”

Seevaratnam said Hartley had been visited by friends while her family remained by her bedside as she continues to make a full recovery. “People have been visiting her daily and hopefully she’ll be sent home next week.”

JCR President Femi Fadugba said the College had acted swiftly to ensure her close friends were given precautionary treatment and to raise awareness among all College members about the risks and symptoms of meningitis. “Meningitis isn’t easily transferable, but as a precaution, all close friends of the student were put on an appropriate course of antibiotics. The emphasis however, has not been on trying to avoid interaction with the illness, but on being aware of the signs and symptoms.”

Fadugba praised the rapid reaction of Seevaratnam, saying, “We were very fortunate that the Male Welfare Rep, Janek Seevaratnam, is both very good at his job and a good friend of the student so she was taken to hospital as soon as the [the] symptoms worsened.”

Meningitis is caused by the Meningoccal bacteria that are carried in the back of the throat by one in ten people. Bacterial meningitis the most dangerous variant of the infection and kills about ten per cent of those who contract it. It was responsible for the death last Michaelmas Term of Exeter fresher Sundeep Watts.

 

Students have reacted angrily to news that they were charged differently, according to college, for a mandatory geography field trip.

As part of a course requirement, geography students are required to conduct a one week field trip in Crete.

 

But while wealthier colleges subsidise all or part of the cost of the trip, others have refused to put money towards it.

Tomo Sandeman, a second year Geographer, emphasised that attendance on the £295 trip was “absolutely compulsory”, even though he received no financial help from his college.

 

In contrast, one Christ Church student Dan Barnes, described the ease with which he obtained a travel grant for the trip.

He said it was “automatic after having a pre-printed form signed by his tutor.”

Furthermore, some  students have also questioned the academic value of the trip. One student from St Catherine’s described it as “just a massive piss-up”.

Barnes  admitted that “the academic value of the trip wasn’t that great.” He added that “you could do as much work as you wanted on the trip.”

His views were echoed by students throughout the University. One Geographer from St Anne’s, who wished to remain anonymous, described working hours as “flexible, particularly over the first three days.”

The student continued, “I was really annoyed that we had to pay for it, especially as we already pay top up fees.”

She described the Geography department’s situation in this regard as comparing poorly with that of Earth Sciences.

She spoke angrily of how she spent hours on the beach, “taking measurements of the sand height above and below sea level several hundred times, as well as cataloguing vegetation” while other participants “relaxed in cafes” and “took things slowly.”

Her observations were confirmed by Sandeman, who said: “Quite a few geographers made their results up.” He described one group who “hired pedal boats and went hiking in the mountains,” after having fabricated some data for their work-book.

They agreed with the St Anne’s student that, as it was “the only fieldwork [they] get to do in the entire course,” its academic value was far from negligible.

For those students from less well-endowed colleges, though, this merely exacerbated the unfairness of having to fund the trip from their own pockets.

As the St Anne’s geographer pointed out, “It’s an important week… we just shouldn’t have to pay.”